Artist: 1997
Album: Notes From Underground
Year: 2009
I had always liked 1997 for their quirky pop, and though their sophomore release On The Run never stuck to me like their debut, junior release Notes From Underground easily surpasses anything else they'd done. The songwriting isn't as cute as it used to be, but where it's lost it's charm in sugar it has gained charm in depth, sharper songwriting and consistency. Even their debut ... A Better View Of The Rising Moon only had three or four truly memorable songs, while Notes From Underground is both musically diverse and completely solid from start to finish. The earnest opener "#1" opens the album eerily before breaking into a very good but not particularly surprising 1997 track, but it's the next track where things get crazy. "Hold Yr Breath" is almost an alt-country tune, maybe alt-country superimposed on other versatile songwriting structures all composed into one (the way the song breaks down near the halfway mark is brilliant, almost going straight into 70's pop near the end, then being pulled into that old Victory sound and just clearing away to the finish). Stand-outs continue from here on in, with the dynamic "Sympathy For The Living", the brilliantly building "Falling Down" in which vocal lines are piled onto each other slowly until the song explodes and takes you with it, the wonderfully executed "Wolf + Sheep" the Bright Eyes-esque "A Fruitless Year", the poppy "A Fearless Heart"... It just never relents. "Candle" is a swan song for any band on the road; "Pagan Melodies" switches perfectly between scathing and pretty; however, closing track "#3" brings the album to a close with a wonderful solo track by new co-lead singer Arthi Meera. A shame this band broke up recently, but at least they left us one real gem before they went.
Hear it for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btsLn0O2VqU
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